The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government has not only kept its promise of reversing the burdensome taxes imposed by the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) administration but also ensured no new taxes were implemented in the last five years.
This was emphasised by General Secretary of the PPP Dr Bharrat Jagdeo during his weekly press conference on Thursday.
“From 2020 to now, the first budget that we had to 2025 budget, we haven’t increased a single tax, you check the budget,” Jagdeo told reporters.
He reminded that under the former government, “in every sector, no one was spared; from the guy driving his donkey cart…to the health sector, to the education sector, [for] the miners they increased the royalty rate, the taxes on machinery and equipment, land rental charges, everything under the sun you can think of.”
After re-elected to office in 2020, Jagdeo recalled that the PPP/C government gave up $50 billion annually when the over 200 new taxes were reversed. Taxes were reversed on machinery and equipment, water and electricity, data, hinterland travels and more, while taxes were also removed on a number of items including construction materials.
He also reminded that the PPP removed corporate tax on private education and healthcare.
In addition, Jagdeo highlighted that the PPP introduced a number of benefits to alleviate the cost of living burden on citizens.
For instance, the increase in prices for freight after the COVID-19 pandemic was cushioned by the government.
He explained that “the cost of living support alone on using the old freight rate to levy the duty at customs…we gave up billions of dollars because when freight prices went up globally from US$3500 to ship one container to US$20,000, we used the same US$3500 to levy the tax on.”
He added that the excise tax on gasoline and diesel were removed along, ensuring the increased prices were not filtered to citizens.
“If we didn’t do that, every time you go to the pump, you would’ve had to pay $500-$600 more per gallon,” Jagdeo noted.
Moreover, he outlined other steps to improve citizens’ standard of living, with the reduction of the income tax rate, increase in the income tax threshold, implementation of tax free incentives for parents, among many others.
